How to Make Your Presentation Go Viral

As an advertising agency business development professional, I know the power of a good presentation on a hot topic. Getting a speaking gig at a conference can be an invaluable way to increase thought leadership and generate new leads for your business.

As a believer in content marketing, I also know that the presentation itself can be repurposed as content on your website, whether published in the form of a webinar, white paper or blog post. Attracting prospects using valuable content has been an important paradigm shift in the advertising industry.

Even so, I was recently surprised to witness the power of content marketing when a two-year-old presentation of mine went viral on SlideShare, an online community for sharing presentations.

It all started when I read this article on how to generate leads with SlideShare. I pulled up my presentation on Mobile Apps 101, updated the 2010 industry stats with today’s figures, and published it on SlideShare – easy enough. Within the hour, it received over 200 views and was elevated to the “Featured” section on the SlideShare home page. Later, SlideShare also promoted my presentation on its “Hot on Facebook” and “Hot on Twitter” sections. Within the first day, it had been viewed over 1,000 times.

Previously I had made the presentation to several audiences at different conferences, but to a total of less than 100 people. As of today, it’s been seen more than 2,500 times.

So what’s the moral of the story? You’ve done the hard part already by creating the original content. With minimal effort, you can leverage your existing presentations online using SlideShare, and greatly increase your exposure, your thought leadership, and your leads. In addition to the article referenced above, here is a marketer’s guide to SlideShare to give you some tips.

By: Jim Ellis

Vice President, Account Director

Jim manages the business development team and offers seasoned expertise in account management, digital marketing and brand strategy. As a songwriter and musician with a business degree, he believes this “dual personality” gives him the understanding needed to be an effective liaison between business owners and Signal’s talented creative team.